Violent activities trigger aggressive tendencies and it’s no wonder that those who are fond of violent games are more driven to release their aggressive side, compared to those who are more inclined towards wanderlust, reading or other pastime activities that don’t imply violence.
A team of psychologists has confirmed that playing violent video games could make an individual lean on his or her aggressive side and let it evolve. They have reviewed data gathered together after almost a decade of studies. Conclusion is fairly simple: violent video games are linked to aggressive behavior.
However, this aggression is far from being defined as a criminal tendency. Experts noted that there is yet not enough evidence to conclude that the influence of certain games, such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty are enough to make someone be called a natural born killer.
The social and virtual environments where we let our lives unfold deeply impact our behavior, as our brains act like sponges that assimilate information to later on release it, based on the same patterns we are used to experiencing. Parents are advised to better control and assess the exposure of children to violent scenes in video games.
Researchers have deeply criticized a lack of research on the effects of videogames when it comes to children younger than 10 or their impact over the entire course of a child’s development. Children should better be guided towards more growth-oriented activities, not destruction and violence.
The report was conducted by the American Psychological Association and this particular review is the first one in this field to examine the sum of studies included, and to undertake various approaches to reviewing the entire amount of data.
However, as experts have noted, not a single influence coming from violent video games has led a person to act aggressively but it is rather an accumulation of risk factors that could result in such behavior. If people let themselves unleash the beasts inside of them, extremely bad things may happen. Individuals and especially children, must be handled with care, affection and a more optimistic and constructive view over the world.
Besides the results of the study that were made public and can be read in a PDF document on the internet, the American Psychological Association has released a new set of recommendations and policies that replace its 2005 “Resolution on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media”.
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